Friday, September 11, 2009

New Photos of Sept. 11 Mastermind Hit Web, Possibly to Inspire New Attacks

The first photographs of the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind at Guantanamo Bay have cropped up on the Internet, and experts say the images of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are being used by terrorist groups to inspire attacks against the United States.

The photographs, taken in July by the Red Cross at the detention center on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, show Mohammed sitting serenely wearing a white robe, a red-patterned headdress and a long salt-and-pepper beard.

They are the first known images of Mohammed since a widely distributed shot taken upon his capture in Pakistan in March 2003 showing him in a stretched white T-shirt, with disheveled hair and a mustache. Since then, only courtroom sketches from his war-crimes trial have been available.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which photographs Guantanamo prisoners as part of its mission to monitor their treatment, confirmed on Wednesday that it took the images in July and sent them to his family. Spokesman Bernard Barrett did not identify the location of the family or specify their relationship.

Barrett said the photos were given only to the family and were not intended for public release, but the organization does not impose conditions on detainee families.